Pay equity protesters voice their opinions outside Parliament. Photo: RNZ/Marika Khabazi
More New Zealanders oppose than support the government's shake-up of the pay equity regime, and a clear majority think the public should have been consulted first, a new poll shows.
The latest RNZ Reid Research survey found 43.2 percent of respondents were against the overhaul, compared to just 25.5 percent in favour. Nearly a third - 31.3 percent - remained unsure.
On the question of consultation, 68 percent said the government should have first sought feedback, with only 18.6 percent saying no. The remainder - 13.4 percent - were undecided.
That opinion carried through to voters' party preferences, with even a slim majority of ACT voters agreeing that there should have been consultation, despite the changes being championed by Workplace Relations Minister and ACT deputy leader Brooke van Velden.
The poll also indicated limited public comprehension: just 49.7 percent said they understood the changes, 38.2 percent admitted they did not, and a further 12.1 percent were unsure.
More than half of those who claimed a lacked of understanding still expressed an opinion about the policy: 38 percent said they opposed it and 13 percent said they supported it.
Respondents were surveyed from 23 May through to 30 May, capturing the immediate reaction to last month's Budget and the $12.8 billion of savings made from the coalition's pay equity pivot.
Van Velden had announced the overhaul several weeks earlier, before passing legislation through all stages under urgency.
Among the key changes: a new merit test was introduced, as well as a greater focus on whether employers could afford higher wages. The threshold to lodge a claim was lifted, and job comparisons across different industries were restricted.
Along with the changes, the coalition also extinguished the 33 claims already being considered under the previous scheme.
The government argues the regime had expanded beyond its remit, becoming too costly and confusing. The opposition parties and unions says the changes will make it harder for those in female-dominated sectors to achieve fair pay.
The RNZ Reid Research result follows a similar question asked in the latest 1News Verian Poll, released on Tuesday. It found 45 percent opposed the pay equity changes, compared to 39 percent in support, and 16 percent who did not know or wouldn't say.
Speaking to RNZ, van Velden said she had received mixed feedback but believed the community now recognised that the changes were necessary.
"It's always going to be a difficult conversation," she said. "We have fixed resources, we have to make those difficult decisions on behalf of New Zealanders."
And Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told RNZ he would not do anything differently if given the chance again.
"We made some pretty tough decisions to go through under urgency. But we had to fix a very unworkable and unaffordable law. It had got completely out of whack."
Finance Minister Nicola Willis suggested some of the public opposition or lack of understanding could have been driven by Labour promoting "misinformation".
"Labour have had a very confused position, and their hyperbole in claiming that we were ending equal pay has ultimately done a disservice to them and the people they're seeking to represent, because it's basically untrue."
But Labour leader Chris Hipkins said that was sheer desperation.
"Women up and down the country have a right to feel angry," Hipkins said.
"The government cut billions of dollars that was otherwise going to be going into low paid women's pay packets, and now they're just desperately trying to deflect attention away from that."
The latest RNZ Reid Research poll showed National and ACT losing support, and without the numbers - even with NZ First - to form a government.
ACT leader David Seymour said he did not put much stock in any one poll but acknowledged the recent pay equity changes could be on some voters' minds.
"Doing what is right is what is politically popular in the long term, and even if I'm wrong about that, good policy is worth it anyway.
"We have left New Zealand with a more sensible pay equity regime focused on actual gender-based discrimination, and I think that's worth it."
This poll of 1008 people was conducted by Reid Research, using quota sampling and weighting to ensure representative cross section by age, gender and geography. The poll was conducted through online interviews between 23-30 May 2025 and has a maximum margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent at a 95 percent confidence level. The report is availabehere.
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